With Anzac day coming up here in Oz (and Aotearoa New Zealand) there will be a lot of speeches about our soldiers' bravery, honour, sacrifice, etc. It's a solemn day but beyond the ceremony we mostly get a very sanitised version of war for public consumption.
So in this pic I just wanted to capture a little moment, long after the guns had gone silent. The soldier returns, forever changed.
Willie Shack Horne. H Company, 18th Battalion, No. 3 Rifle Brigade. SERVICE ABROAD: World War I (1 year 121 days) Born #OnThisDay: 9 March 1893 #Chinese #Anzac
https://wellingtonchinesehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Willie_Shack_Horne
One thing I miss about Twitter is being able to ask a question like "Did ANZAC troops on the Western Front in WWI paint kiwi or other symbols on their Brodie helmets?" and actually get relatively regularly expert input.
The Fedi rocks. But it's very fractured 
#FediHelp #ANZAC #WW1 #NZTwit #NZTwits #BoostsOK
#NZPost has a new stamp issue, ahead of #ANZAC Day, recognising Service Animals.
From dogs and pigeons, to horses and donkeys.
https://collectables.nzpost.co.nz/animals
#StampCollecting #Stamps #StampCollection #NZ
Anzac Cove, 2002 - 2005 - 2010 - 2015.
Walking Anzac Cove on the morning of the 25th after the Anzac ceremony at the commemorative site on North Beach was always atmospheric. No longer.
Anzacs from 1915 would probably still recognise the 2002 beach; by 2015 that's not so certain.
It took a century, but the ghosts of Anzac were finally bulldozed into the sea.
(The 2002, 2005 and 2010 shots are my own; the 2015 shot is pinched from Street View; I didn't attend that year.)
Nancy Wake – The White Mouse
She parachuted from airplanes, bicycled 500 km through opposition-held territory, and killed Nazis using just her bare hands!
But, before Nancy Wake, nicknamed ‘The White Mouse’, landed on the Gestapo’s Most Wanted list, she was a spunky girl from a broken home, growing-up in New Zealand.
At the onset of WWII, following the Nazis’ invasion of Paris, Nancy, a roving war correspondent, joined the French Resistance.
She became a courier, secreting food and communications to opposition groups in Southern France, assisting refugees, run-away POWs and downed Allied pilots to escape France.
Half way through #GreatUncleHarry by #MichaelPalin - Harry’s on his way to the war as an #ANZAC - loved this poem as written in the ship’s satirical magazine… #vaccination scepticism existed even then LOL 
#Books #Reading
Satellite imagery reveals extent of destruction of Commonwealth war graves in Gaza
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-22/satellite-commonwealth-war-grave-gaza-damage/104126386
Israel has desecrated the Gaza War Cemetery, which has more than 3,600 graves of Commonwealth soldiers. These are mostly from World War I, and include about 260 graves of Australians, most of whom were the revered light horsemen. Something to consider next ANZAC Day when we say "Lest We Forget" and no to senseless war.
#Bookstodon / #BookSky challenge: Choose 20 books that greatly influenced you. One book per day, for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
Day 12/20
Anzac's Lost Shadow: the cost of our national obsession by James Brown
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